Monthly Archives: August 2016

Summer here in Fayssac has been really wonderful this year, plenty of hot and sun drenched days and the odd crazy storm to cool things down, entertaining us with illuminating light shows. We have had lots of fabulous guests that have made our summer abundant with fun, laughter and great memories that will last with us for a very long time.

It has been so hot down here with little rain, the trees have already begun to loose their leaves making us realise that autumns calling.

The ground is so dry that cracks in the earth are the norm creating an amazing motorway of patterns.

The sunflowers that recently blazed their yellow glow over the country side are all now bowing their heads. They will be left until they are almost black, the farmers waiting for the seeds to be dripping with oil before they harvest them.

But as we begin to notice the subtle changes, mother nature gives us some lovely gifts to help us on our way.

The wild damsons are laying heavy and luscious on the branches, they are inviting me to taste their warm and sweet flesh, whilst eating them the purple juice runs down my hands, there to be savoured later as i walk Barnaby Pickles in the evening glow of the sun.

The blackberry bushes are also brimming with big bold berries, ill be picking these over the weekend for a jam making session.

Summers not over yet! but the autumn hints are there, so we have to fill up on the sunshine and warmth ready for the cold winter nights.

Are you all noticing the changes or is it just me?

Have a lovely weekend everyone and heres to more warm sunny days before Autumn rolls in.

Our lovely friends Emily and Ed who have just bought the house at the beginning of our village [its the one just above my head in the photo below] have recently acquired a new member of their family, Marcel is a Pyrenean Mountain Dog and although only five months old, is already the size of an Alsatian.

Anyway he’s is so adorable and just loves everyone and showers them with licks and just wants to be loved by all, he is also a definite mummies boy.

This particular breed of dog dose not require huge amounts of exercise so dosn’t warrant being walked especially whilst still a puppy.

So when Emily set off to meet me for a walk with her other dog Humphrey, Marcel was left staring at them heading off down the sunflower lined path.

Ed has been desperately trying to secure their land with fencing and today reached a landmark by fitting the final gate to keep the dogs in, a major achievement considering its been 33 degrees for the last few weeks.

As i mentioned Marcel is a big puppy, he’s a big fur ball but beneath all the fur he’s actually quite a slender chap, so having stared at us going off into the distance and I’m sure thinking “i want to be with them” managed to squeeze under a very tiny gap in the gate. [ i have to mention at this point that the lady they bought Marcel from had warned then that this breed of doggy is prone to wandering off on on the odd constitutional]

Emily, Humphrey, Barnaby and i had all finished our walk and were home, in fact i was about to start cutting the grass when i saw Ems walking past my fence, she had got home to discover that Marcel had decided to join us on our walk and was missing with out permission.

So off we set to hunt for Marcel Marcel, i call him this name as i like the double barrel sound of it.

Emily headed off to scour the village and i headed for the fields to see if i could spot the big white fur ball, and as Ems rejoined me we indeed spotted a spec of white cotton wool in the distance and yes it was Marcel Marcel, who after hunting for us and not finding us had decided to make his way home, he’s a very clever puppy.

But the hill leading up to Emily & Eds house is very steep and he’s just a puppy, so as soon as he got to us he decided to lay down for a good rest [well this escape artist malarkey is very tiring]

So the only thing to do with a big white fur ball is to carry it home, which is what Ems and i did in turns, hence the photo below that Ems took.

Whilst carrying him i kept thinking of how many calories i was burning off and how many glasses of red wine that would equate to……

So last week we introduced you to one of our new bedrooms “The Garden Room” named as it over looks the garden, very unoriginal I know but after much deliberation and lots of name changes we felt it was best to keep thing simple. Tohis is the en suite bathroom attached to it.

The sink unit was bought for a bargain price at our local second hand warehouse, and Kev put a new sink and tap on it.

We have been hunting for antique tiles for ages but couldn’t find any at a good price, then Kev came across a website that sells some really lovely tiles and has a range of imitation old tiles, they look very realistic as they are all slightly different and have different blemishes etc

Kev did all the plumbing and tiling, I cleaned the beams up and Marion helped with the painting. Oh and I renovated all the old doors.

Oh yes and I pointed the stone wall.

Kev made the shelf from a piece of old wood found in one of the barns.

So thats one bedroom and bathroom done only another 3 to go. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.